My plant obsession

Six on Saturday – 14-07-2018

Greetings from the Temperate Desert Zone of the Kew Gardens hot house. Oh wait, no, it’s just my back garden. Well over a month without rain now. Still no sign of a hosepipe ban, fortunately, so while tediously time consuming, it is still possible to keep most things alive. “Most” is an important qualifier, there are some things which just don’t make it. Anything still in a pot, especially a small pot, is vulnerable to drying out. It only needs one day of neglect with the watering for this to happen. Guilty as charged yer honour. Multiple offences to be taken into account, time off for good behaviour. Still, I have managed to keep enough things alive and kicking to supply this week’s Six on Saturday. Six things, in the garden, on a Saturday. Could be anything! A flower, a good leaf, a pest, a completed project, a harvest, an abject failure, anything at all. Join in!

Here are my Six for this week.

1 – Cosmos ‘White Knight’. The last couple of years have been difficult cosmos-wise. For some reason I was unable to grow successfully from seed. Germination was poor, those that did were poorly plants, and/or I neglected them. This year I have a good few of these white cosmos dotted about. I grew them from seed provided by Suttons. I think I prefer the coloured ones, not sure I’d get these again.

2 – Clematis, purple’un. The name is lost to history, as was the plant, I thought. It has staged a recovery this year, even putting out half a dozen flowers. They are a good purple colour, standing out well against the wisteria foliage. I hope it sticks around next year and puts on a better show.

3 – Lobelia tupa. Grown from seed last year, it didn’t do a whole lot, getting to no more than a few inches tall and not showing any signs of flowering. This year is a different kettle of fish. It has grown into a decent size plant, a good 3 feet high and across, with stems each bearing a flower spike. The flowers aren’t quite fully out, but they’re on their way. I’m interested to see how long they last.

4 – Zinnia ‘Queen Red Lime’. Queenie here was grown from seed this year, also from Suttons. I have a blind spot with annuals, I set them off , prick them out, then often forget all about them, resulting in frequent death by the aforementioned too-small-a-pot. A few of these slipped through my determined neglect, growing into good little plants and flowering. A moment of weakness, won’t happen again.

5 – Poppy ‘Lauren’s Grape’. Another escapee from my neglect, these are annuals I think. They should get to 3′ tall, but are more like a 18″ high just now, and a bit spindly. Still, flowers are emerging, and they are purple, so whaddayaknow.

6 – Impatiens. I forget exactly what these are. New Guinea impatiens maybe? Bought for pennies a plant in Morrisons a month or so back. They come in red, white and this pinky red one. I have them in the front row of the shady border.

Those are my Six for this week, what are yours? If not already a regular, you probably feel strangely drawn to taking part, but don’t quite know how. Fear not, simply write your post, pop a link to it in the comments below. You can also participate using twitter, instagram, facebook or by pigeon post. Just remember to use the #SixOnSaturday hashtag. For more details, please see the participant guide.

Have a super weekend, remember to check back as more links get added during the day. It’s going to be yet another scorcher here. More watering. Sigh.

Morning. I was looking at my sunny border yesterday and actually it doesn’t look too bad, quite a lot of flowers and lush. Has taken prodigious quantity of watering, mind. Have fingers crossed for rain while we are in hols…

I definitely agree with you about white cosmos. Haven’t grown them in years, but I often grow the pink/purple/maroon shades. I don’t really like the orange ones as well, either, although the butterflies do.

I’m not sure we should believe a man who doesn’t like white cosmos, when he says his poppy is purple. Lovely seed head, tho, isn’t it? I’ve been gnashing my teeth over not doing dahlias this year, but of late, have also thought about trying zinnias, which I’ve never done because they’re mostly annuals. However, the colours, as yours show, are really worth it. Perhaps I’ll remember them next year. Fantastic news about the clematis. Will we see the lobelia open, at least on Twitter? Hope so! So here’s my water deprived six. https://lorahughes.blogspot.com/2018/07/veg-blooms.html

Yikes! Loads of comment already and I won’t be doing much visiting of blogs this weekend as there is tennis to watch. Oh, and yes that game where grown men spend 90 minutes trying to kick a big ball into a net. What’s that all about?
I have a white Cosmos similar to yours this week – I have tried growing them for the last couple of years, those that did germinate then got eaten when planted out. This year I bought plugs and potted them on so they were a bot bigger and that has seemed to work. Like you though I am going to try and fill my borders/planting beds with perennials and shrubs – a lot less hassle! I also have a purple clematis not unlike yours – Clematis, ‘Warszawska Nike’ – but not featuring this week. Wimbledon is the clue to mine 🙂
Have a good weekend Prop!

Hmmm. My Cosmos are about 3″ tall with no sign of a flower. At least they’re still alive! I ought to have a purple clematis just like yours (again, name lost). Must have a look and see if it’s still around. It’s not up where it should be. What you call your “blind spot with annuals” is really your sub-conscious telling you that there is just no room for bigger pots so leave them as they are! My return-to-the-fold six is over at https://rivendellgarden.blog/?p=3720. Have a great day.

Salut Jonathan . Gorgeous white cosmos that you presented this morning! I also liked the lobelia and I’m looking forward to seeing their flowering, like about 30 other pots that you have to plant around your Eye of Sauron … Good luck with all your job of the day, the “small” final is at 3PM and you will probably watch it. Here are my six this Saturday: https://fredgardenerblog.wordpress.com/2018/07/14/six-on-saturday-14-07/

I’m very partial to a white Cosmos, I used to grow ‘Purity’ regularly. My Lobelia Tupa is growing well but not a sign of a flowering stem yet. I’ll show it the photo of your plant and give it a good talking to.
https;//thequiltinggardener.wordpress.com/2018/07/14/six-on-saturday-14-07-18/

One man’s meat…I absolutely love that cosmos and if I remember!! I will definitely try it next year! Oh the watering. I did get a rain shower last night and there’s a reasonable amount in the water butt. Here’s my six for the week https://wp.me/p97pee-gy There’s a little more space in my week again so I’m hoping to catch up on all the gardening news soon. Wishing you all well.

It is a struggle to keep it all alive, and such a tie when things won’t go a full day between waterings; I’m pinned down, can’t go anywhere. I can’t make my mind up on Zinnias, there’s something just a bit stiff and artificial about them. Lobelia tupa is more my kind of plant. I should grow more annuals though, they’d be great for popping into gaps as the season progresses.
Here’s my six: https://wp.me/p6bCCa-1Aq

Hello Mr P, I’m far from home…about 2 000 km ( but still in Aus) so no six from me this week. I like your white cosmos very much, would be happy to grow it myself. The zinnia is a pretty colour, and I hope you post a photo of the lobelia, cause I’m really interested to see what it’s like. Have a good week.

Hi Mr P and all. Loving that cosmos. Yep New Guinea impatiens by the look of them. Doing smashingly too. Have you considered an experiment of water saving techniques? My favourite has to be cardboard with pea straw on top then a layer of soil. We’re well versed in hot dry summers here.
My six is on hold for a bit. Depression is being a pest. Shame there’s no pesticide for the black dog. Be back asap.

https://tonytomeo.wordpress.com/2018/07/14/six-on-saturday-redwoods/
Well, mine are not as interesting. Five are of the same sort of thing. I did happen to throw in the epiphyllum because I promised a flower of some sort.
Your impatien does not look like what I know as a New Guinea hybrid.
Your clematis looks like the classic Clematis jackmanii. I know there are too many to take a guess, and that particular one that used to be the standard is now quite uncommon. Yet, that is what it looks like to me.
That lobelia is not at all familiar!

I like that cosmos too. I keep watering my pot plants so they are surviving but I tend to neglect established ones in the soil so this year they are not doing as well. (Pleased to see Mr Kingdon is back,, although I haven’t read his post yet so may change that comment!) Here is my link.https://grannysgarden229242407.wordpress.com/2018/07/14/six-on-saturday

The Propagator

I’ve been raising plants from seed for a good few years with some reasonable results. I’ve also dabbled a bit with cuttings with very patchy results. I became a little obsessed with the topic of propagation in 2016 and resolved to improve my success rate and to share what I discovered.
This blog is my assorted ramblings, progress, disasters, setbacks, results and some tips along the way. The focus was initially propagation, which still features heavily but has expanded to cover the veg plot and the general state of the garden. The blog is mostly for my benefit, to keep track of what I've done, and hopefully is also of some interest to other planty obsessives. I post fairly frequently so click below to follow or sign up to receive updates by email. Comments welcome, I will respond to all.